CHALLENGE

ZAGG has helped countless device-lovers coddle their gadgets and gizmos. The No. 1 mobile accessories company boasts a slew of products spanning from tablet keyboards to screen protectors.

The brand's abundance of such products, in the form of high inventory levels, even led to a promotion opportunity.

While in the past ZAGG tackled high inventory via discount, BOGO (buy one and get one free) and bundle promotions, the team had something else in mind this go 'round.

"We wanted to not only do something different, but we wanted to show our customers that we appreciate them," explained Jessica Andreasen, Email Marketing Manager, ZAGG.

However, Andreasen added the team unfortunately couldn't remain profitable by simply passing out the extra products to customers for free. ZAGG's challenge was creating a campaign that helped solve the issue of high inventory, continue to earn revenue and, most importantly, show appreciation to its loyal customers.

CAMPAIGN

To shake things up while showing thanks, the team ran an email campaign exclusive to existing ZAGG customers, promoting a free gift with the purchase of $9.99 or more.

Customers were split into three segments:

Customers over one year

Customers over two years

Customers over three years

Each segment was offered three different gift products, the items increasing in value with the number of years the customer had been with ZAGG.

"It's a win for our customer, it's a win for our inventory levels and for our revenue, so it just made sense," Andreasen said. "It was one of those things where it was like, 'Why have we not done this before?'"

Step #1. Select products for each customer segment

By categorizing past purchasers into three tiers, the team was first tasked with selecting the gifts to offer to each of the sections.

They decided upon three gifts per segment (increasing in value the higher the tier), allowing longer customers the option of choosing from the lower tier products, as well:

During the selection process, Andreasen said the team wanted to ensure the gifts appealed to a wide array of customers. While there were device-specific options like iPhone covers, there were device-neutral products such as the earphones, as well.

"I always made sure that there was some sort of universal product within each tier," she explained.

Step #2. Design the body of the email

The team aspired for the campaign to exude gratitude, so the design and copy of the email portrayed an appreciative tone.

"The way that you communicate with your customer can make such a difference," Andreasen said. "So we took the approach of, 'Thank you so much. We appreciate you — enjoy this free gift' rather than, 'Spend this and get this.'"

Below a large header reading, "Thank you for being a loyal customer," the copy read:

(First Name), thank you for being a ZAGG customer for over (1, 2 or 3) years! We're so happy you're a part of the ZAGG family and want to celebrate by giving you a gift. For the next few days, purchase anything on the site over $9.99 and choose any one of the below items for free!

A button at the bottom of the email labeled "Choose Your Gift" directed customers to their corresponding gift landing page.

Step #3. Include a sense of urgency with each email send as an incentive

Beginning in March of 2013, ZAGG sent its customer appreciation emails a total of four times. Sends were spaced out every six weeks, and the gift offers were made available for only a week at a time to invoke a sense of urgency, Andreasen explained.

Minor adjustments were made to the campaign along the way due to some of the products running out of stock. The team observed the popularity of headphones and, due to the deal at hand, the gift choices that had the higher price points.

This even gave the team a glimpse into which items ZAGG customers liked the most, arming the team with helpful data to use in future campaigns as far as which products to market, Andreasen explained.

"Being able to do [the sends] a few times helped us see what products people are most interested in," she said. "It was helpful for later marketing purposes."

RESULTS

ZAGG's customer appreciation campaign produced these metrics:

152% increase in revenue-per-email sent

252% increase in average conversion rate

"To see the revenue-per-email and the conversion rate increase so much was awesome," Andreasen said. "My goal has been to try and find messaging and email promotions that are more relevant to our customers."

She added the team found it fun to watch the campaign take flight, witness gifts sell out and the see the buzz created on social media.

They saw customers tweeting screenshots of the ZAGG emails, expressing their excitement about the campaign — and gifts, of course.

The team attributes the campaign's overall prosperity to the messaging.

Andreasen said it was the approach of "thank you" that made all the difference for ZAGG.

"It's more of a relationship thing than a selling tool," she said. "And I think that really helped the success of this campaign."

Comments about this Case Study

Jan 10, 2014 -
Michael Downs of
Silverpop says:
Congratulations to Jessica and the Zagg team on a successful campaign. Great use of relevant content to deepen customer loyalty.

Post a Comment

Note: Comments are lightly moderated. We post all comments without editing as
long as they (a) relate to the topic at hand, (b)
do not contain offensive content, and (c) are not overt sales
pitches for your company's own products/services.

The views and opinions expressed in the articles of this website are strictly those of the author and do not necessarily reflect in any way the views of MarketingSherpa, its affiliates, or its employees.